Aman619

Well, actually you only need to list books worth more than 25K now. Used to be 5K.

Ever met him?

Superman Annual #1 is special as a classic early trendsetter, and was a peek into the long ago early days of Superman. I remember the back covers showed Golden Age covers and frankly, I had never even considered the idea until seeing them that the current issue numbers could be tracked back to an actual #1 issue!. Spider-Man Annual second for the amazing story and full page Ditko fight pages. The first 2 FF annuals for important stories that took advantage of the space. And both Marvel Tales #1 and Secret Origins for being essential origin reprints of the heroes first appearances. Back then it was the ONLY way to reread these stories without tracking down a back issue... which was difficult to say the least back then.

Is Neal Adams still a thing?

In large part Maher is just mocking millennial culture as vapid and their interests as childish. And also reminding us that in many ways, even “grownups “ today — inlcuding Boomers who are in their sixties now — have by and large compared to previous generations, refused To outgrow their childhood interests... and mindset? This is a common topic as one of today’s societal factors trying to explain why things are the way they are. Childish hobbies like reading and collecting funny books, trading cards, etc were shunned and far less popular until the last few decades, and 95% of all kids who sampled them in the fifties sixties and seventies quickly left them behind for more “adult” pleasures and pastimes as their parents did with marbles and wanting to be Dvy Crocket etc. He makes this point often. So not a surprise that he connected and commented on the fawning over and teeth gnashing sadness over the passing of the Comicbook Diety (he’s not a big fan of organized religion either) whose creations written largely for kids and teenagers 65 years ago and now DOMINATE popular entertainment sees this as a prime example of a dumbing down of society. His comments would have been much less offensive for so many and food for thought perhaps had he not stated them the same week Stan died. But that’s how he rolls. Says what he thinks and rolls with the backlash. He’s a stoner, new ideas that sound brilliant pop up in his head all the time!

Yes many dealers buy from auction houses. But, they are careful how much they bid, so as to not overpay. You are implying that a dealer with a auction sticker pays simply full retail and adds 20% or so isn’t really what’s happening. (Of course some probably do try to markup regardless of what the final price comes to compared to retail.) and some of the stickered books you see may have been gotten in trades by collectors moving onto the NEW hot book. dealers I know look for books selling at auction well below retail — and a lot do sell for less — and pass on the ones at retail prices. anyway, I think a dealer is within his rights to charge whatever he wants, it’s a very tough grind of a business... and as you say, we don’t have to buy from them if prices too high, it’s perfectly okay for us to seek out the lowest prices we can find.

I’ll take it...

That was my typo. Oops

In all your reading of Marvel history, where did you read that Stan licensed the characters to Marvel in 1972?? He never owned the slightest piece of the characters. And he was paid a million a year starting much later on, in the nineties. He was paid to remain the face of the characters, and of Marvel, as a Walt Disney type creator emeritus and Marvel guru. The 10M payment he final received was a final settlement on Stan’s contract from the 70s when he went to kickstart Marvel into Hollywood. 10% of all film profits. But he never sold anything. It was Avi Arads Spider-Man films in the 2000s that tossed billions — with Stan never getting his profits check — that Caused Satan to sue Marvel, resulting in the one time payout of 10M. Far less than 10% of the profits would have been. But still a pretty good payday. ‘You are correct that Ike voided Stan’s deal AND all talent deals at Marvel Comics when he took over (cheap sob) they wanted him gone cause he was getting too much.. this was the opening Peter Paul had been waiting for, getting his hooks into Stan. Of course PP did pretty well in the beginning, as Stan Lee Media’s stock value eclipsed Marvels for a short time. Before it all went south. In the end Marvel re signed a million dollar a year deal with Stan

One should find out exactly what is covered, and what isn’t. The Insurance biz has certain views and “rules” about what they cover or exclude that don’t follow what we laymen THINK is bein* insured. Ask questions and get. True sense why to expect is you come home one evening and find your comics are gone, or underwater. for instance recently someone posted about how when a framer damaged accidentally damaged their original artwork, CIS told him it was not a covered event. He needed to pursue the framers insurance, and he didn’t have any.. insurance coverage does not cover your collectibles when they are undergoing “work” to them. This is also true when comics are being pressed. Buyer beware...

No bro. You argue. I just post what I know and experienced. Take it, ignore it, it’s up to you. But I’m not trying to win an argument on points like you do. Im not even interested in playing. I’m wrong often enough, and don’t care to be the cleverest man in the room. Most everyone else here is mainly interested in comics, and quite often their values. Hardly anyone gets into long back and forth tit for tat gotcha fests for days like you always do. Clearly you like it so carry on. Just know as if you don’t already that it’s exhausting to the rest of us, cause very few like your game or it’s rules. I think the Boards should set up a section just for arguing with you. Like the ask Bob and Gator threads. That might be fun. I think you’d enjoy it a lot.

You’re confusing early comic convention attendance with comic collecting. But if you have rigid definitions of each then what can I say ? I was collecting beginning in 1960 at 8 years old. I amassed a pile two feet tall, which I allowed my mother to toss — just that one time, After that, I was going to the stationary store every week amassing comics each week. Read and add to the pile. But that doesn’t make me a collector? I have to register as one as you guys are implying? Again, if you weren’t there in the primitive 60s, no way can I explain it in a way you will agree with. Where do you think all the comics we have now came from? The concept that I need “absolute proof” to have a discussion on the boards iabout something so trivial as how our hobby grew from the beginnings in the sixties makes me chuckle. Its like you agree that there were 100 true comic collectors in San Diego in 1970, right. You seem to want a note, or a historical record from any collectors close enough to get a ride from mommy to the Con as to WHY they couldn’t or didn’t want to go! Or, you are saying, they don’t exist. So we have 100, would you say there were another 100 in the state of California that chose not to go or weren’t aware of it? How about New York, Boston, Chicago, Ittsburgh and Cleveland to name a few more large cities. Really think they didn’t have 100 collectors in each? Jusy crazy.

This is ridiculous. Duck get some rest and forget this thread. RMA does this all over the boards... argues incessantly if intelligently, but never budges an inch. He’s our very own argument clinician, at lest he doesn’t charge nothing to argue —he literally does it in his spare time! save your sanity as so many others have and call it a day... or a week. this collectors vs fans thing is insane. If you liked comics enough to buy them in stationary stores like I and many others did back in the 60s, you also piled them up... “collected them”. It was the same thing. The other kids who read comics usually only read them at summer camp. These were the non serious readers. The rest of us kept them in piles by title. An as the decade progressed we began to hear about and seek out ways to fill in the gaps in our runs by Rogofsky, other kids, barber shops! (I got my grandfather to take me once, but when he saw how they were filled with actual hair, he grabbed me and yanked me out of there!,) the youth today just can’t fathom how the world worked back then. You didn’t fly to other cities to attend conventions... and most collectors in those cities weren’t clued in the the earliest organized fan network. The media was three network channels, ABC, NBC and CBS, plus local channels and there weren’t TV or radio ads for these small shows. Who had the funds for taking out ads? It was just word of mouth between an elite few who were just finding each other. ... but comics collecting and fandom and media awareness grew sharply thru the 60s due to the arrival of and interest in Marvel. Marvel had fan clubs on college campuses across the country. I taught a college credit course in comics in 1972 as an Indiction of how mainstream they had become less than ten years later. The adm8nistration approved our curriculum of guest lecturers like Elliot Maggin and a fellow from the Comics code! Sure it was a gut course, but the students got actual college credit for taking it. the idea that there were only 1000 comic “collectors” in 1970 is insane and foolish. That’s only 20 COLLECTORS PER STATE!! People who argue that point are stubborn and way past the point of ever accepting the fact, no matter what you tell them.

Looking for the number of high schools, I found a Govt study that quoted the number of elementary and secondary school students for years beginning in 1970. It had lots of stats, including number of students, but not number of schools. You re good with stats, hers the link: https://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98018.pdf

In my high school on the late 60s, I knew of maybe 5 comic collectors. Collectors who went to the store each week and added comics to their collections. Who also would trade with the few PUBLIC comic collectors. (As you got older it was NOT something you talked about with guys, and definitely not with girls. You never even read them in public!) so find out how many high schools in the US in 1968 and multiply by 5 to estimate all the comic collectors in the US. Heck, multiply by 3 and I’m confident it comes to a lot more than 1000 collectors!

This is a legit operation, but very recently started. It’s run by Steve Geppi, Diamond distributors, Hakes auctions owner, and a legend in the comics industry who has owned very book he ever wanted too. Oh — he’s also the owner/founder of the Baltimore Pop Culture museum, specializing in comic book characters etcin all media.

Lol. No I like Boring. He had a quirky style, but his flying walking Superman was always very powerfully drawn. But his women were similar to Ditko in that they all looked similar, and a bit weird. I meant Forte, the Legion artist in the 300s.

I always was put off by Forte’s drawing. A bit stiff for my eyes. Of course, like I misremembered the Legion covers, maybe Forte started much later?

That’s a keeper!

Earlier it was mentioned why so few LSH covers after 300. Didn’t the covers alternate issue by issue — Superboy then LSH — until the legion took over ?

Gee. Look who aced his math tests!!! ; ). I didn’t put much thought into the % I picked when I posted. People are SO literal around here. Sheesh.

The real significance of the upgrade for the purposes of this thread goes back to the ongoing discussion of what exactly kicked off the huge spec burst in AF 15 a few years ago. Many of us point to a few upgradeable mid grade copies selling for unheard of numbers. This usually signifies two or more bidders recognizing an upgrade opportunity worth paying over GPA for. Finding out that indeed one or more of the three copies that sold strongly at CC in fact WERE upgraded underscores that argument, as opposed to the other theories suggested in this thread. And a double upgrade would mean that the bidders could have been safely betting at up to 15-20K more than GPA at the time.

Yeah, maybe Spectre was also dead. Darn.

right. and with the increase in values, even if they found out their Action 1 had restoration, its far too late to buy an upgrade to cure the problem in hole collection. Just settle for a 1000% gain and not a 10000% windfall.

don't forget the WWII paper drives that consumed many many comics and periodicals.